The Hogwarts lake glistened in the moon's light, relfecting its glow onto the shores of which led upto the castle, which itself was illuminated. A cool breeze swept through the trees, rustling the leaves on the Whomphing Willow, which shuddered slightly.
Proffesor Severus Snape looked out onto the grounds - his only get away from the stress of being an unpopular school teacher was at night, when he could take in the skies beauty. He smirked at th full moon, knowing that his 'dear friend' Remus Lupin was either in solitary confinement as a harmless mountain wolf, or having a whale of a time roaming around as a fully transformed werewolf.
It was at this time that he found himself truely at peace - he needn't worry about the future, the children whom he would have to put up with the next day, nor being shown up as a fool in front of that Potter boy...
It wasn't that he hated Potter so much that Severus wished that he would just combust on the spot and burn into a thousand pieces - it was the fact that even Dumbledore, the only person who Severus truely trusted, even decided to take Potter's side, when he fully knew that Severus was in the right.
His mind flashed back to the night when Sirius Black had escaped, and he shuddered.
He looked down towards the lake and watched the Giant Squid that inhabited it snap its tentacles at a few Swupus (half Swan, half Dog creatures), who prompted to fly over to a safer part of the grounds. He inhaled the cool night air once more, before retiring to his chambers.
He pulled off his black robes and procceded to pull on his grey night shirt, which reached to about half way down his calves. He slowly made his way over to his wooden bed, and flumped himself down onto it, and felt the effects of fatigue drift over him almost instantly.
During the night Snape had decided that he needed a glass of water. He slowly clambered out of bed, rubbing his eyes like a sleepy five-year-old would. He descended a five-step flight of stairs and into his private bathroom. He grabbed a nearby cup, not bothering to inspect the inside, and turned on a silver tap that let crystal clear water run out of it. As he slowly began to swallow the contents, he noticed that the cup had been stagnating with brownish black mould-
Severus threw the cup from his, spluttering out the contents.
"Eeyuck," he said to himself. Where he had dropped the glass goblet lay a mess of broken glass, glittering in his bedrooms candlelight.
"Shi....Accio Wand," he said with a sleepy sigh. In an instant his wand flew to him, and he caught it with two hands. With a flick of his wand the shattered goblet was returned to its original state, and was now mould free.
Almost unconciously, he slowly made his way back to his bedroom, and opened the window. Doing this had become more of an initial reaction than a choice to gaze out of the window. The monn had started to dissapear over the nearby mountains, and the sky was starting to turn an orange-pink, with the odd few bright starts showing up against the near sunrise.
The air was still cool....he inhaled, and he felt somewhat at peace again.
But it was then that something, Severus wasn't quite sure what, crawled out of the lake, shaking off the water from what looked like its fur.
Severus had never seen anything like it - it had the body of a wolf, and the wings of a Phoenix. It stood about the same height as an average sized man. It's tail looked something like a donkeys, only more elegant, as the fur (though it looked more like feathers) climbed up to bottom of the tail till about half way. Severus could see it was drooling some kind of green liquid, and was bleeding from what looked like its side - though it hurridely spread its orange-rewd glowing wings and procceded to fly over the mountains. If it was strong enough to fly, Severus figured, then it was no doubt strong enough to survive with such wounds. He watched it fly away until it was a mere black speck on the horizon. He then pulled his windows shut, and fell onto his bed, weakly pulled the covers over him, and fell into another deep sleep.
"My goodness, Severus, you look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards," Minerva McGonagall procceded to tell him, almost the instant he walked into the staff room.
"I've....been having rough nights...you know..." he said, with an obvious slur in his voice.
Minerva stiffled a giggle when she saw Severus' head start to droop into sleep, which was very un-Snape like.
"Severus," joined in Madam Sprout, "I think you should take the day off and do nothing else but sleep, do you hear me?"
"Don't be so daft, woooooman," said, as his elbow slipped off the table. He procceded to go back to his book, entitled "Magical Creatures and Where to find them". He had looked up every book in the libraby, and this was his last hope to try and find out what that strange creature was.
"Well, if you're sure, then you'd best put that bloody book down and come down to the entrance hall, we have to enroll a new student."
"Great," thought Severus sarcastically, "More little dunderheads to put up with." It was times like this he wished it was nightm when he could enjoy the serenity of the calm.
Severus followed the other teachers down a long winding stairs which lead to the back door of the entrance hall, and they all took their usual seats.
Over the course of half an hour students began to fill up the hall at their house tables, from left to right, Slytherin, of which Severus was Head of House, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, then Gryffindor. Once all the students had taken their seats, and were starting to wonder where the usual line-upo of breakfast was, Proffesor Dumbledore stood up, and commanded total attention at once.
"Good Morning, Students," he said, in his usual warm tone of voice, "No doubt you are wondering were your breakfast is. Don't worry, we're not out of kitchen staff, I simply want to welcome our newest student, who has transferred from the Scottish School of Withcraft and Wizardry."
Some of the students imitated scottish accents and gave a small giggle afterwards.
"No need for that, surprisingly, she has a rather heavy english accent. Let me introduce, Amelia Rebecca Simander."
"Please, Proffesor, I don't like my middle name..." came a quiet voice from the end of the teachers table.
Amelia walked out, and Snape took note of her facial features, mentally reminding himself to give her one of Snape's trademark 'warm welcome' when he first taught her. She had a rather thin face, big brown eyes and chocolate brown hair that led down to her waist. She was slightly bent over, as if she has a stomach cramp.
"And now, we must sort her!"
Dumbledore pulled The Sorting Hat form behind his back. Amelia stood very still, almost rigid, as she felt its coarse material on her head.
"HMMM! How very odd to place, you possess the qualities that both Gryffindor and Slytherin prize so much....hmm, but...hmm. Difficult. But I'm going to go with GRYFFINDOR!"
The table on the far right clapped hard, while the other three clapped quite quietly. Amelia sat herself down on the top end of the table, next to a black haired girl who welcomed her with a warm smile, no doubt introducing her to her friends, who all smiled.
"Oh, great, another Gryffindor. Joy," said Severus to himself, sarcastically.
He studied her a bit more. She seemed tired, and somewhat ill. Severus shrugged it off almost immediatly, it wasn't his place to inquire to a students health, and it certainly wasn't in his character, either.
TBC....so, the first chapter! Tell me what you think!
Proffesor Severus Snape looked out onto the grounds - his only get away from the stress of being an unpopular school teacher was at night, when he could take in the skies beauty. He smirked at th full moon, knowing that his 'dear friend' Remus Lupin was either in solitary confinement as a harmless mountain wolf, or having a whale of a time roaming around as a fully transformed werewolf.
It was at this time that he found himself truely at peace - he needn't worry about the future, the children whom he would have to put up with the next day, nor being shown up as a fool in front of that Potter boy...
It wasn't that he hated Potter so much that Severus wished that he would just combust on the spot and burn into a thousand pieces - it was the fact that even Dumbledore, the only person who Severus truely trusted, even decided to take Potter's side, when he fully knew that Severus was in the right.
His mind flashed back to the night when Sirius Black had escaped, and he shuddered.
He looked down towards the lake and watched the Giant Squid that inhabited it snap its tentacles at a few Swupus (half Swan, half Dog creatures), who prompted to fly over to a safer part of the grounds. He inhaled the cool night air once more, before retiring to his chambers.
He pulled off his black robes and procceded to pull on his grey night shirt, which reached to about half way down his calves. He slowly made his way over to his wooden bed, and flumped himself down onto it, and felt the effects of fatigue drift over him almost instantly.
During the night Snape had decided that he needed a glass of water. He slowly clambered out of bed, rubbing his eyes like a sleepy five-year-old would. He descended a five-step flight of stairs and into his private bathroom. He grabbed a nearby cup, not bothering to inspect the inside, and turned on a silver tap that let crystal clear water run out of it. As he slowly began to swallow the contents, he noticed that the cup had been stagnating with brownish black mould-
Severus threw the cup from his, spluttering out the contents.
"Eeyuck," he said to himself. Where he had dropped the glass goblet lay a mess of broken glass, glittering in his bedrooms candlelight.
"Shi....Accio Wand," he said with a sleepy sigh. In an instant his wand flew to him, and he caught it with two hands. With a flick of his wand the shattered goblet was returned to its original state, and was now mould free.
Almost unconciously, he slowly made his way back to his bedroom, and opened the window. Doing this had become more of an initial reaction than a choice to gaze out of the window. The monn had started to dissapear over the nearby mountains, and the sky was starting to turn an orange-pink, with the odd few bright starts showing up against the near sunrise.
The air was still cool....he inhaled, and he felt somewhat at peace again.
But it was then that something, Severus wasn't quite sure what, crawled out of the lake, shaking off the water from what looked like its fur.
Severus had never seen anything like it - it had the body of a wolf, and the wings of a Phoenix. It stood about the same height as an average sized man. It's tail looked something like a donkeys, only more elegant, as the fur (though it looked more like feathers) climbed up to bottom of the tail till about half way. Severus could see it was drooling some kind of green liquid, and was bleeding from what looked like its side - though it hurridely spread its orange-rewd glowing wings and procceded to fly over the mountains. If it was strong enough to fly, Severus figured, then it was no doubt strong enough to survive with such wounds. He watched it fly away until it was a mere black speck on the horizon. He then pulled his windows shut, and fell onto his bed, weakly pulled the covers over him, and fell into another deep sleep.
"My goodness, Severus, you look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards," Minerva McGonagall procceded to tell him, almost the instant he walked into the staff room.
"I've....been having rough nights...you know..." he said, with an obvious slur in his voice.
Minerva stiffled a giggle when she saw Severus' head start to droop into sleep, which was very un-Snape like.
"Severus," joined in Madam Sprout, "I think you should take the day off and do nothing else but sleep, do you hear me?"
"Don't be so daft, woooooman," said, as his elbow slipped off the table. He procceded to go back to his book, entitled "Magical Creatures and Where to find them". He had looked up every book in the libraby, and this was his last hope to try and find out what that strange creature was.
"Well, if you're sure, then you'd best put that bloody book down and come down to the entrance hall, we have to enroll a new student."
"Great," thought Severus sarcastically, "More little dunderheads to put up with." It was times like this he wished it was nightm when he could enjoy the serenity of the calm.
Severus followed the other teachers down a long winding stairs which lead to the back door of the entrance hall, and they all took their usual seats.
Over the course of half an hour students began to fill up the hall at their house tables, from left to right, Slytherin, of which Severus was Head of House, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, then Gryffindor. Once all the students had taken their seats, and were starting to wonder where the usual line-upo of breakfast was, Proffesor Dumbledore stood up, and commanded total attention at once.
"Good Morning, Students," he said, in his usual warm tone of voice, "No doubt you are wondering were your breakfast is. Don't worry, we're not out of kitchen staff, I simply want to welcome our newest student, who has transferred from the Scottish School of Withcraft and Wizardry."
Some of the students imitated scottish accents and gave a small giggle afterwards.
"No need for that, surprisingly, she has a rather heavy english accent. Let me introduce, Amelia Rebecca Simander."
"Please, Proffesor, I don't like my middle name..." came a quiet voice from the end of the teachers table.
Amelia walked out, and Snape took note of her facial features, mentally reminding himself to give her one of Snape's trademark 'warm welcome' when he first taught her. She had a rather thin face, big brown eyes and chocolate brown hair that led down to her waist. She was slightly bent over, as if she has a stomach cramp.
"And now, we must sort her!"
Dumbledore pulled The Sorting Hat form behind his back. Amelia stood very still, almost rigid, as she felt its coarse material on her head.
"HMMM! How very odd to place, you possess the qualities that both Gryffindor and Slytherin prize so much....hmm, but...hmm. Difficult. But I'm going to go with GRYFFINDOR!"
The table on the far right clapped hard, while the other three clapped quite quietly. Amelia sat herself down on the top end of the table, next to a black haired girl who welcomed her with a warm smile, no doubt introducing her to her friends, who all smiled.
"Oh, great, another Gryffindor. Joy," said Severus to himself, sarcastically.
He studied her a bit more. She seemed tired, and somewhat ill. Severus shrugged it off almost immediatly, it wasn't his place to inquire to a students health, and it certainly wasn't in his character, either.
TBC....so, the first chapter! Tell me what you think!